Shipping companies from countries with which India has signed tax avoidance pacts will not need a separate voyage NOC as CBDT has streamlined the assessment process in order to improve ease of doing business.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has issued a circular that deals with streamlining the process of issue of No Objection Certificate (NOC), Port Clearance Certificate (PCC), Voyage Return and Voyage Assessment in case of foreign shipping companies.

"The circular has done away with the administrative requirement of obtaining a voyage NOC for foreign shipping companies entitled to 100 per cent relief from payment of taxes in India on account of a Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) between India and the country to which the foreign shipping company belongs," the CBDT statement said.This is another step by the CBDT towards further improving the ease of doing business in India for foreign shipping companies, it added.

Explaining the provisions of the circular, Nangia & Co Managing Partner Rakesh Nangia said law mandates filing of voyage return and making tax payment before getting port clearance for a ship.

However, where a foreign shipping company is covered by a DTAA, the CBDT had provided for issue of annual NOC instead of obtaining NOC for each voyage so as to expedite issuance of PCC.

CBDT has now laid down procedure for issuing voyage NOCs."Where entire cargo belongs to single foreign shipping company belonging to a country with full DTAA relief, the annual NOC issued by jurisdictional AO will also serve the purpose of voyage NOC, based on which PCC shall be issued by Customs Authorities," Nangia said.